NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS

Management Report to

NSPE Board of Directors/House of Delegates/Past Presidents/State Leadership & Staff

December 2006

The following represents key NSPE national management and operational activities for the period ending December 31, 2006.

Membership Update. As of December 20, 2006, total membership stood at 49,595.

NSPE Member Billing and Invoicing. For those members with expiration dates of November 2006, a first dues mailing was sent on November 27 with a follow up mailing scheduled for the first of January (a similar schedule will be followed for subsequent months). We are currently receiving an average of about $100,000 in dues revenue per day and our processing of payments is on time and up to date. (Special note: Over $200,000 was received in a 24 hour period via online renewal payments compared to December 2004 and December 2005 when the same amount was received over a period of one month).

Several enhancements have been initiated to our invoice mailing process which include:

running invoice files through the National Change of Address (NCOA) system;

mailing all invoices First Class so that any undeliverable mail will be returned directly to NSPE;

enrollment in the US Post Office address change service whereby all address changes are available for download on the Internet if there is an address change with a forwarding address.

NSPE OnDemand. A total of 8 NSPE state societies are now live with NSPE OnDemand with another three states in line for activation in the near future. OnDemand is a state-specific scaled down version of NetForum. A co-branded flyer has been developed to distribute to those states that have not yet gone live. We have also created NSPE training webinars to assist new users with the start-up process. To date, four states have participated in this training.

State/National Partnership Successes.

  • SSEC/NSPE Staff Retreat. A very successful staff retreat was held in Alexandria, Virginia, December 1-3 attended by 15 state society executives and 23 NSPE staff. During these three days, staff participated in team building exercises and worked together to define and create the prototype for a strong, productive and viable state/national partnership. Jim DiLizia, the retreat facilitator, prepared the attached preliminary outcomes report which provides a summary of the retreat goals, outcomes and next steps. Additionally, I have worked with Jim and SSEC president and partner, Mary Detloff, in developing a timeline for the completion of joint assignments so as not to loose any of the enthusiastic momentum established during the retreat. These assignments include:

A briefing for those SSEC representatives who were unable to participate in the retreat

The development of a SSEC/NSPE partnership manifesto for review by state and national staff (this will ultimately transition to a partnership agreement)

The creation of a inventory on each NSPE state society that will include critical data on programs, activities, governance structure, etc.

Creation of design teams for major program areas, i.e., member education; products & services; advocacy; membership development; marketing & public relations; membership administration; leadership development; networking, information exchange and mentoring. The findings of each design team will be crafted into operating plans setting forth how these programs will be administered.

It became clear during our discussions and interactions that staff are wholeheartedly committed to forging a member-centric organization where we are dedicated to serving and meeting the needs of our membership.

  • EngineersWeek. We have created an E-Week 2007 “how to participate” information piece that will assist state societies in conducting E-Week programs. This document was previously shared with state and national leadership and staff. Many thanks to Hannah Besanceney and Stacey Ober for their excellent work on this piece.
  • State Society/Regional Visits. NSPE President Miller attended a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Society of Professional Engineers held on the campus of the University of Maryland. Upcoming NSPE officer and staff travel for January includes participating in the Central Region meeting in Lansing, Michigan (President Miller, Angel Baltimore and Felisha Battle to attend) and an ethics training session I will conduct for the Washington Society of Professional Engineers.

NSPE Website Redesign Update.On December 7 and 8 NSPE's Web Site Relaunch Team met with Melia Design Group to go over site-organization issues and to discuss issues related to the integration with NetForum. At this meeting, Melia presented five wireframe concepts for how the NSPE site could be organized. NSPE staff provided feedback, which Melia used to create revised wireframes. The revised wireframes were presented to NSPE on December 21. These concepts are now being fine-tuned. After the fine-tuning, the finished product will be two design concepts that can be presented to a select focus group.

NSPE National Staff Update. As announced by NSPE President Miller via a December 19 e-mail communication to the Society’s leadership, Larry Jacobson has been selected NSPE Executive Director. Larry’s start date will be determined after his appointment is ratified by the NSPE Board of Directors at its meeting on January 6. We are delighted with Larry’s selection and know that he will provide strong and focused leadership to our Society in the months and years ahead. We are awaiting Larry’s arrival before filling certain senior level positions. There are currently three (3) vacant positions in data processing that are being covered over the short-term be temporary hires. We will be recruiting for these positions as soon as possible after the first of the year.

Financial Overview.As of November 30, 2006, the Society’s results of operations are slightly behind budget pace, with an operating deficit of $151,700 (vs. a budgeted deficit of $56,500). Revenue is at budget pace, although surpluses from some successful non-dues revenue programs have been necessary to offset a minor shortfall from dues revenue. Spending is slightly over budget.

As noted above, dues collections in December are quite vigorous, and we are hopeful that the momentum will carry over into the new calendar year. We well be monitoring dues revenue very closely for the next few months. The financial success of our year will depend very much on the recruitment of new members, the retention of existing members, and the reclamation of lapsed ones.

National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET). A recent meeting was held with NICET General Manager Mike Clark and President Miller, President-elect Berson, NSPE Director of Finance Bill Brown and myself to settle the following issues:

NICET will be taking possession of office space on the 4th floor of the NSPE headquarters building that is being vacated by the current tenant;

NSPE and NICET will enter into a formal MOU covering all services we provide toNICET, i.e, office space, human resources, accounting and auditing services, mailroom services and legal services and counsel.

Liaison Society Activities.

NSPE/ASCE/NCEES/ABET Annual Summit. The third annual Summit of our organizations, hosted this year by ASCE, was held December 7th at the ASCE government affairs office in downtown D.C. The presidents, presidents-elect and executive directors of all four organizations joined together for a daylong dialogue on many important issues of mutual concern. Discussion items included: engineering education, licensure promotion to engineering students, uniform CPCrequirements, engineering licensure comity/mobility, and dual level accreditation,to name a few.

Meeting with ASCE Leadership. At a dinner meeting held after the Summit, President Miller, President-elect Berson and I met with the leadership of ASCE where we discussed issues of mutual interest.

American Institute of Architects (AIA). President Miller and I attended an inaugural banquet honoring AIA’s 83rd president, R. K. Steward, FAIA. The event was held December 8 at the JohnF.KennedyCenter for the Performing Artsin Washington, D.C.and was attended by several hundred leaders from the architectural and engineering community. Through the NSPE Alliances Task Force, we are working on the development of an MOU with the AIA.

Celebrating 100 Years of Engineering Licensure. In partnership with NCEES, we will be celebrating this special anniversary by devoting the entire June issue of PE magazine to licensure. Articles are being developed - to include a history of licensure – and all NSPE members and friends of the Society can look forward to a most spectacular publication. NCEES will also be making widespread distribution of this issue to its members.

It has been a sincere honor and privilege to serve as NSPE Acting Executive Director these past three months. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity and wish to express my appreciation to the entire NSPE staff and all of the State society executives for their assistance and supportas well as to the NSPE leadership for their confidence in my ability to assume this important role. I firmly believe the momentum created during our staff retreat in December has set the pace for a truly successful partnership that willensure our Society’splace as the premier organization dedicated to the advancement of the honored profession of engineering.

Arthur E. Schwartz, CAE

NSPE Acting Executive Director